The present invention relates to an interactive method and apparatus for generating leads for the sales of products or services and/or for conducting real time polling from incoming telephone calls. More particularly, this invention relates to an interactive method and apparatus for generating sales leads or conducting real time polling that can store product or service information under a plurality of individual identification numbers in a memory accessible to potential customers by phone, instantly capture and record the phone number dialed and the phone numbers associated with each incoming call, conduct a search using the caller's phone number to obtain their name and address, track all transactions entered or forced during each call and monitor the time and duration of the call and other call events. The present invention then provides an instantaneous detailed sales lead with the above-listed information to a prospective seller in the form of a report printed on a subscribers remote printer, a fax transmission, a voice or alphanumeric page during or immediately upon completion of the potential buyer's phone call.
Sales of goods and services have been occurring for centuries. For an equally long time sellers have consistently faced the problem of attempting to attract customers for their offerings. When it comes to large ticket items, these problems tend to multiply. Unlike low cost items that may be purchased on a daily or weekly basis, items such as automobiles and homes are usually purchased once over a period of sometimes many years or a lifetime.
As a result, much more deliberation usually goes into the decision to make such purchases and a great deal of information is often required by the prospective purchaser. As can be appreciated, the potential purchasers of such goods are only "in the market" for information and products for a certain finite period of time. If a seller does not reach and influence a potential customer during this critical window of opportunity, it may be years before the purchaser again becomes a potential prospect for the seller.
Various marketing techniques have been used by sellers to try to target and entice prospective buyers during the critical window of buying opportunity with limited success. Cold generic letters or mass mailings have often been viewed either as junk mail or impersonal. They also waste marketing resources since they are frequently sent to individuals that are not even in the market for the particular product advertised. The same can be said of various giveaway sweepstakes or other promotional efforts. Such promotions spend precious marketing dollars over the entire lives of potential consumers even though they are not at all interested in making such purchases the vast majority of the time. These efforts therefore fail to successfully concentrate these limited resources on ready prospects.
Mailed promotions that require customers to take some affirmative action, such as coming to the seller's place of business or mailing back a card, usually screen out sizable portions of potential customers. Potential customers frequently do not get around to completing these acts or are fearful that such actions will generate undue pressure from sales people to purchase. Tracking the effectiveness of such promotional efforts is also difficult since customers may ultimately appear in person, yet not carry out the acts requested or indicate that the promotional material ultimately was the reason for their interest or visit.
Telemarketing or cold calling has also been utilized. However, the extended deliberation usually associated with the purchase of a large ticket item, this technique is usually ineffective. Beyond that, if the purchaser is not in the market for the item being offered for sale in the phone call future damage could be done. By the time the customer is ultimately in the market to purchase such items, a prior unwelcome intrusion etched in his memory may actually drive a potential buyer away from that seller.
Print and newspaper advertising has also frequently been used to generate potential sales leads. Although these promotional forms have proven to be satisfactory, they have also exhibited a number of drawbacks. To begin with, such forms of advertising are usually extremely expensive. They also do not specifically target proven potential customers, but rather are directed across an entire reading or viewing audience.
Such advertising has at times been coupled with market or survey research to attempt to place ads in publications, broadcasts or other places that are specifically viewed by those that are more likely to make the purchases of the advertised sellers products. For example, research might show that those between certain ages are more likely to make certain purchases. Advertisements would then be concentrated in publications or broadcasts that are likely to attract that target group. Such research, however, has a long time lag, frequently is expensive and even when done well still tends to be inaccurate. For example, just because one in their 30's might be more likely to buy a home or automobile, they are by no means continuously in the market for such items just because they are of a certain age.
Due to the cost of such advertising, the ads themselves often must be short in length or time. It is therefore particularly difficult in the case of homes or automobiles to convey a great deal of information about any one item. This is compounded by the fact that such advertisements must often feature a variety of items in any given segment. Due to the increased abilities of currently available telecommunications and computer systems, the potential purchasing public has come to frequently desire a level of information greater than that which is frequently communicated in print and broadcast advertising. The consuming public has also become increasingly intolerant of waiting for a real estate agent or other sales person to return a phone call for basic product information.
Various efforts have been undertaken in an effort to enhance such advertising. A telephone number can be provided in the advertisement to direct the caller to the ability to obtain additional information concerning the item. If the phone number is that of the seller, it is unlikely that this will generate more than a few sales leads since it requires the prospective buyer to interact directly with the seller's representative to obtain even the most basic of information.
It has been proven more successful to communicate additional information in an attempt to interest a prospective buyer by providing dedicated telephone numbers that connect a caller to prerecorded messages. In this manner, the prospective customer can gain additional information about his prospective purchase at his leisure and in the privacy of his own home. The prospective customer does not have to initiate direct contact with the seller until he has obtained this additional information and progressed significantly further in his decision making process.
Although television or newspaper ads that list phone numbers to access prerecorded information about the items they advertise afford significant additional information to the potential prospect, they do nothing to communicate the interest of the prospective purchaser back to the seller until and unless two things happen. The prospective purchaser must first contact the seller and then secondly the seller must illicit the fact that the prospective purchaser's interest was generated or heightened by the advertisement listing the phone number for the dedicated recording and listening to the recording itself. Therefore, although these systems can generate additional interest, the interest or potential sales leads that they represent cannot be readily tracked or used by sellers.
In the average home or car buying situation, there is a very small window of opportunity for a seller to attempt to find a ready prospect and convert that interest into a sale of their particular item. Missing this window of opportunity by a day or even a number of hours can often be the difference between making a sale or not. It therefore is not just the generation of leads, but the timely and precise communication of such leads that is most important when it comes to these purchases.
As a result of the shortcomings of the known systems set forth above, a number of other systems have been developed. One such known system is marketed under the name "DIAL A HOME" by Info-Quest, Inc. of Lawrenceville, Ga. In this system, 24 hour real estate information is provided by allowing an agent to record a 30 or 40 second message describing the amenities of listed properties. Prospective buyers may access the listing information by entering an advertising code for a particular listing. The prospective buyers can therefore listen to additional information provided on the recording and can be forwarded directly to a listing agent or their office, or request that additional information on the property be sent to them. While the call is connected, the system utilizes Caller ID to capture the telephone number of the prospective buyer. This telephone number is then stored in a memory for dial in access at a later time by the real estate listing agent.
Although an improvement over several known systems, the DIAL-A-HOME system still poses drawbacks. The lead generation aspect of the system depends upon Caller ID, which is known to be inaccurate about 2-6% of the time, can be selectively blocked by the caller and provides only the phone number of the caller without additional information. This leaves the real estate agent without the ability to either personalize their subsequent sales approach, to know whether the call originated from a place of business or residence, or screen out wrong numbers or prank calls. In addition, this system does not convey important details of the phone call concerning the time of day or duration of the call. The system likewise does not permit real time updating of the recorded messages, nor does it have the ability to immediately, either during or upon termination of the call, fax or otherwise communicate via phone lines relevant lead information to the seller.
It is therefore apparent that the need exists in the art for an improved interactive lead generation system that provides a wider variety of benefits and options to capture and utilize sales leads that begin with the customer's phone call.